A Woman Under the Influence is a disarming examination of how love between a man and a woman changes shape as it moves throughout the home and into the outside world. Stay-at-home mother Mabel Longhetti (the legendary Gena Rowlands in what she called her greatest role) is known as a nut to her husband Nick's family and friends. But the symptoms of her supposed ailment—spontaneous song and dance, unbridled expressions of affection—are earnest acts of resistance against the suffocating isolation of her pastel-hued life. As Nick (Peter Falk at the height of his Columbo fame) struggles to accept that what he loves most about his wife in private is what embarrasses him most in public, Mabel is left to stand up for herself. Cassavetes financed and distributed A Woman Under the Influence himself—with the help of Falk, Rowlands and other friends—and filmed most of its handheld shots. Despite the verisimilitude, the film’s dialogue is entirely scripted and its performances carefully rehearsed. Though critics referred to it as a woman's picture, Cassavetes' take on motherhood is less a genre exercise as it is a personal reflection on how husband and wife negotiate the roles of director and actor within the set that is their home. As a construction foreman who works with a large crew, Nick belts orders with the assured authority of a filmmaker; Mabel, on the other hand, fidgets in anticipation of his direction until one evening, she finally refuses to play the part.